National dailies marked the end of the Paralympics with front pages featuring the pyrotechnic closing ceremony and headlines that sought to convey a mixture of human emotion and national pride.

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Some linked the two: "There is a flame that will never go out" (The Independent), "It's been a blast" (Daily Mirror), "All over in a blaze of glory" (Daily Express) and "Flaming fantastic" (Daily Star).

Others preferred a patriotic adieu: "Britain's ode to joy" (The Times), "Goodbye to Britain's golden summer" (The Guardian), "The summer of love" (Daily Telegraph) and "We loved it!" (The Sun).

And then there was the regret that it is all over: "A heartfelt farewell" (Daily Mail) and "Lights out" (Metro). The Indy's little sister, i, chose to concentrate on the likely effects of the Olympics/Paralympics experience with "Generation inspired".

guardian.co.uk

Beneath the headlines were words that similarly aimed to sum up the unparalleled sequence of events that began with that remarkable opening ceremony to the 2012 London Games on 27 July. The prose was, inevitably, purple...

"Bliss was it in that summer to be alive, but to be in London was very heaven. It wasn't the finest summer of sport we have ever known: it was much better than that.

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It was the finest celebration of humanity in a quarter-of-a-million years of our existence. It was the best party in the history of the human race."

Paul Hayward, in the Telegraph, was more measured in noting that "the summer of love has passed." In trying not to echo the "euphoric rhetoric" of London mayor Boris Johnson, he managed to do just that:

"To most of us the summer is captured more by a feeling than a set of labels. The kind of patriotism that energised the venues was benign, considerate, polite and appreciative. Even the most sober commentators acknowledged a surge in positive feeling about the country we inhabit.

Austerity, corruption and ineptitude turn out not to be the main picture. The mass of British people still believe in the civilising virtues of friendliness, enthusiasm and respect for the achievements of others."

Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian reflected on the fact that we have been amazed by our own emotional response to a Games that, in the days immediately before it began, looked to be anything but enthusiastic:

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"Last night marked the end of a season of wonder that seemed to surprise the hosts as much as the guests, a period where we looked in the mirror and were met by an unexpected reflection – one we rather liked."

The Independent's Tom Peck tried to imagine how we will view the Olympics in future: "For seven years the Games loomed ever larger on the horizon. Now suddenly they are in the rear view mirror, and will vanish just as fast. So what to make then, of this summer like no other?"

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Extolling the Paralympics, Peck added: "Much of what was best, came last. After the superstars – Bolt, Phelps and their ilk – came a whole new wave of heroes whose names we didn't know but who humbled us nonetheless."

"There will never, surely, be a Monday morning as blue as September 10 2012 for the citizens of London. The Paralympics are over, the Olympic Stadium has heard its last throaty roar – it truly is back to the grindstone..."